I have just revisited three full size books and have followed the process of fixing them, both the font problem and the start issue. I am happy to report that all now work perfectly in the Previewer and on the Kindle 3 running v3.4.

So, for now, the issue is dealt with. I've kept the files created at each stage so it will be easy for me to test future Kindlegen and firmware versions.

I just uploaded the updated versions of the three books to KDP. Just to be clear, these do not have a correction for the start problem, because it is believed that KDP fixes it. So these are directly from Kindlegen.

I used the online previewer. Set to Kindle mode, all three books start correctly. Set to Fire, one starts correctly, one starts too early, in the TOC, and one starts too late, part way down the first page.

All three start correctly using the previewer on the PC.

I suppose what this means is that the online previewer has the same problem that the K3 has, but only shows it when set to Fire mode. This is all getting more and more complicated.

Question. How are we sure that uploading to KDP does fix the problem? I would have to buy one of these books to be really sure. And I would have to buy a Fire too, just in case they add a problem and the online previewer is right!

I just uploaded the updated versions of the three books to KDP. Just to be clear, these do not have a correction for the start problem, because it is believed that KDP fixes it. So these are directly from Kindlegen.

I used the online previewer. Set to Kindle mode, all three books start correctly. Set to Fire, one starts correctly, one starts too early, in the TOC, and one starts too late, part way down the first page.

All three start correctly using the previewer on the PC.

I suppose what this means is that the online previewer has the same problem that the K3 has, but only shows it when set to Fire mode. This is all getting more and more complicated.

Question. How are we sure that uploading to KDP does fix the problem? I would have to buy one of these books to be really sure. And I would have to buy a Fire too, just in case they add a problem and the online previewer is right!

The free sample should be enough to check whether there's a problem or not.

The free sample should be enough to check whether there's a problem or not.

I just did what you suggested and downloded the free sample of the first book, which had a problem (starts part way down the TOC) on the online previewer if it is set to a Fire but not when set to a normal Kindle, but was correct on the PC previewer set for any model. It was correct on the Kindle Keyboard running 3.4, KF8, only if split using the special splitter.

So guess what the free sample does? This is on the K3 running 3.4, KF8.

I just did what you suggested and downloded the free sample of the first book, which had a problem (starts part way down the TOC) on the online previewer if it is set to a Fire but not when set to a normal Kindle, but was correct on the PC previewer set for any model. It was correct on the Kindle Keyboard running 3.4, KF8, only if split using the special splitter.

So guess what the free sample does? This is on the K3 running 3.4, KF8.

Well, that's extraordinary. I confirm that the mobi you sent me has the correct meta data for the start offsets. I don't know why they aren't in the samples.

Umm... I think, that in the KDP control panel, you can download a 'preview' which is the processed file, the mobi7 version. Perhaps you could try this and double-check that that's wrong too.

And then it becomes a matter of testing what does work at KDP. Perhaps a 'fixed' version of the mobi would work. You could try replacing the one you uploaded with that, and then download the processed file and the samples after it's been processed and see if that's better.

I've sent you the preview file, which I just downloaded from KDP. I don't know how that will differ from what I uploaded, or why it should be different?

Of course here is the theory that KDP fixes the start problem at this point.

Do you think as a precaution they unpack the upload, remove the kindlegensrc.zip and put that back through Kindlegen which should give them the same file unchanged?

I doubt sending them the "fixed" file would help, because the problem is not the original error which is manifested as an inaccuracy in where it jumps to. Instead we now see a complete failure to go to the start position.

In any case I don't know how to send them the fixed file. The special split only gives me the two separate files, mobi7 and mobi8, and I don't have any way to reassemble them other than to put one back through Kindlegen which would make the error come back again.

Another thought. Is it possible that they don't regenerate the samples at once when a new version is uploaded? I uploaded the new versions only a day or two ago, I think they were live again yesterday. The previous versions didn't attempt to jump to the start.

I can say that the samples I downloaded didn't have text start offsets in them, but the (mobi7) preview that you downloaded from your KDP account did have the correct (and only) offset, but was a mobi7 not a kf8.

So the question of whether KDP corrects the error of having two text start offsets in the kf8 section of the uploaded file is still unanswered.